Maserati Quattroporte 2005+

Comments

If I were you, I'd look at an Audi S8 with the Lamborghini V-10 for about $110,000. The interior with the stitched tan leather and Sicamore trim is awesome. Plus you get all-wheel drive, several hundred pounds less weight (because of the aluminum), all the gadgets actually work, and free maintenance for 5 years.

I personally have driven the S6 with the V10 engine (slightly de-tuned in comparison to the S8) and must say I was very disappointed in the performance. As wonderful of a car Audi is if you are looking for German performance I would stick with BMW but if you are looking for a driver&#146;s car I would get a Quattroporte. The Audi warranty is 4 years or 50,000 miles whichever comes first and they dropped the free maintenance with the introduction to the 2007 model lineup.

All right, 15,000 miles and i need a new clutch. I understand this is a 'wearable 'item not covered by the warranty? But geewiz if they know it is too small for this car why don't they cover it? How much will this cost me? Do you think we need to unite and do something. Am i going to experience this every 15000 miles? or what?

My clutch is slow to engage when the car is on the flat. Add a hill and it is hopeless. On any type of hill (not very steep) the car takes at leat 3 or 4 seconds to get going. There is absolutely no power. Feels like a slipping clutch in an old alpha.

Dealer told me it was normal, that there is a sensor in the clutch to prevent wear and tear.

To me its embarrassing. I cannot imagine the car getting to 60mph in 5 seconds with this clutch.

2005 is the first model year for the newly designed Quattroporte. If the way the clutch feels to you today isn't the same as when the car was new then it isn't normal. Take it do a different dealer is my best advice.

I am perhaps the most experienced with this after 2 Q's and 4 clutches. First there is a new computer upgrade that actually may do the trick. On my last go round I thought for sure a new clutch was in order and the software upgrade seems to have done the trick.

The best news was only 2% clutch wear since replacement 5k miles ago. The shifting, even in automatic, was better.

Hey everyone, the new automatic is available and is awesome with the optional paddle shift. Any questions? Ask away. Also for you Maserati lovers the 2008 GranTurismo is out on the web. http://www.granturismoisback.com/

Hi Guys and Gals I have just collected from the factory a new 07 QP Sport GT with all the lastest mods, over 50 changes in total and I'm thrilled with my choice of the duoselect box which is now so much smoother than the 06 and lightyears better than the 05 and not even comparible with the 04. The good news is that in Europe the dealers are being paid to upgrade the older boxes so as to maintain high residuals. The new auto is very smooth but you loose the crispness of the duoselct and you can't rely on the down shifts to happen fast enough for posative enginge braking. Horses for courses as we say in the UK. Wait until spring 08 for the QP Sport GT with 4.7 and 460 bhp coupled to this years duoselect box. testing is underway, believe me, I was there. BJ

What I forgot to mention in my previous posting was that to get the best of both worlds from the pre 07 Duoselect box try leaving it in auto and drive it as a manual by flicking the upshift when you want to and flicking the downshift when approaching bends. The box stays in manual mode for long enough to make the most of the independance and returns to auto when you get bored. Especially in town when pulling away try flicking up a gear at around 1500 revs then let auto take over when rolling in a flow. Love my Car

Hi drwagn. I can confirm that there are no plans to change the body or the interior for at least 2 or 3 more years. The feeling at the factory is 'Why change what the world adores' To be quite frank, the factory will have to work flat out for the next 2 years satisfying the US demand for the new auto and won't have the chance to consider QP changes of any kind except the M5 eater. Regards BJL

Hi, am considering purchasing a 2005 Q, single owner, full maint.records from the maserati dealer with 12k miles.Will be a daily driver. It was fun to drive! What problems am I possibly getting myself into? Ive had bmw,RR,MB500,etc. thank you for your comments.

Hi nhp, late 05 models had the benefit of clutch pressure sensors and a software upgrade that made shifts much smoother and kinder to the clutch. You should ask your dealer if this one is the upgraded model, if not you have to accept that you may have to replace the clutch every so often. Drive it hard and it could be every 5000mls drive it gently and you could get 20000mls or more. Whilst all late 05 onward cars can have software upgrades usually at no cost it is rather more expensive to upgrade the cluth itself. Over here in Europe dealers are upgrading on trade ins to preserve residuals and are giving good guarantees. Best way to satisfy yourself is to contact the previous owner and chat with him about how he viewed the car. He must have liked it to own it for 2years or so. From my point of view I have a New Range Rover, a Porsche Boxster and an 07 Sport GT QP Duobox and have had Astons Jags and Mercs but none without exception makes me feel as good as my Maser does and you are only here once, this is not a rehersal. regards bjl123

Hi nhp, my QP was built 07/2005. I purchased it 12/2005 as first owner. Now it have 22500 mls without problems of the clutch. I dont know,if software have been upgraded. The shifts are very smooth. Had a few other problems, but not very hard.regardsdrwag2

About a month ago I received an email from Maserati inviting me to do a test drive of 2007 QP. They also promised $10K rebate if I buy a 2007 Duoselect model. My 2005 QP has just turned 2 years old, it had 26K miles and was due for service so I went to the dealership.

I tried both duoselect and automatic. That was an easy decision: I did not like automatic. Yes, it was more smooth, quiet and refined. But the fun of driving totally disappeared. Even without any rebates I would have chosen duoselect. If you like driving manual, prefer to switch gears yourself and miss the clutch pedal, you will not like automatic. On the other hand, if your current car has sequential automatic transmission but you prefer driving in automatic and wonder why they even have manual shifting, you will love QP automatic.

So it took me two weeks, and I now have a new car. Since I picked one from stock, the dealer added another 6K to the discount. It really was an offer I could not refuse. The service people told me that they see much less complaints about 07 model that they have with 06 and 05 ones.

Hi vk00,How is your new QP performing and which model did you go for and in what colour. Took mine back to Italy last month for a run and got pulled by the Italian Autoroute Police doing 155 mph. They said 'Bello Maccina' and then told me to turn my lights on if I wished to go that fast!!!!. and then wished me a good trip. I love Italian Police. Have clocked over 8000 mls in 4 months so far and can't get enough of it. No Problems but did find out from the main agents in Perugia that it is essencial to have the front wheel geometry checked whenever you have front wheel balance because on the Sport GT with the 20" wheels the rim takes a good bit of the shock load and in turn can upset the geometry if you hit a particularly large pothole. Not many of those in Italy, I wish !!!

I bought Sport GT, but with 19" wheels. Kind of unusual combination, but I had to pick up one of the cars that they had in stock, or the deal would not work. I actually like it: the 20" wheels could have been too stiff. I tried several models. The dealer told me that Executive one has slightly softer suspension than regular, and Sport GT slightly firmer. I do not know. You have to be Schumacher to tell the difference.

The color is as my old one -- Neptuno Blue and I like it. This car also had wood interior rather than graphite that is standard for Sport GT, and I found it better, too. One option that I do not have now is the comport seats with massage, etc. I can say that I do not miss it. I never used massage or adaptive feature: it distracts from driving. The only useful one was the perforated seat with AC, but it was very weak anyway and I can live without it.

The last difference that this car did not have the rear side curtains, but the dealer tinted the windows and it looks perfect. I advice everyone to tint the windows, to same strange reason Maserati does not offer this option in US.

This sounds a bit strange not having the 20" wheels. The Sport GT comes from the factory with the 20" wheels and if it has something smaller you should have received a credit for the less expensive wheel. Are the disc brakes drilled? If they aren't then I think the dealer pay have just put the "Sport GT" logo on the side.

Yes, it came originally with 20" wheels. But someone was buying an Executive (that came with 19") and wanted 20". So they swapped the wheels. I did not mind. And there is not much credit that I could demand. There is no model on which you can upgrade from 19" to 20" (or vice versa), so the relative value is unknown.

Hi vk00 and paxtonkIn the UK it is not uncommon to order a Sport GT with 19" wheels as a no cost option due to the crap roads we have. I also chose the wood (walnut) as opposed to the carbon (which looks like plastic anyway)and biege leather with alcantera all wrapped in Palladio but with the 20" wheels. As for massage seats and the like, what a waste of money, I'd rather spend it on fuel<img

One more observation. My 2005 QP also had the Sport/Regular switch of course. But its only noticeable effect was the word "Sport" appearing on the display. In the 2007 model I actually can feel the difference. And since the roads near NY are probably even crapier than bjl123 is complaining, I very often turn it off and get a much smoother ride.

I am about to buy 2006 QP base model. I want to know whether all three models of 2006 QPs (Base, Sport GT, Executive GT) have received revised and software upgrade in gear box? I am worried that only sport GT got the faster gear change on sport mode. Is there any actual improvement in Gear changing and transmission on 2006 QP compare to former one?

Also I found the "Fifth Gear" review about the QP Sport GT. They comment that QP GT made a improvement on changing the reverse gear to drive to backward. Was it really difficult to change the reverse gear on former model?

I have a Black 2005 QP and just this summer I noticed that there were some micro bubbles coming up from the paint. We had it wetsanded etc. and the little pock marks/bubbles in the paint went away. Now a week later the same exact bubbles/pock marks have appeared in the paint again. Does anyone have the same problem or have heard of issues with the paint from Maserati? We thought it was sap at first but it would not come out and so that's why we had it wet sanded to take off a layer of clear coat. It appears to be starting from inside the paint. The spots are mostly on the hood and top of the car.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. We are taking it to Maserati soon to have them look at it but I'm sure they will try to brush us off unless there's any documentation of others with similar problems with the paint.

BTW, the car is parked in a garage at home and work so it is unlikely the problem is from an outside source.

About to pull the trigger on a 07 base DuoSelect, with an MSRP of 118315...got the dealer down to 106000. Not sure if I can do better; they say they are almost at invoice. I find hard to believe, but there are no invoice prices listed anywhere for Maserati! I drove the auto trans, and its smooth (come to find out, its very similar to the one in my 750i) - but I came away bored. I know....I may be asking for trouble, but I am hearing less horror stories now about the 2006 & 2007 transmission problems (replacement clutches at 2000 miles, etc.) Any input would be helpful! BTW ... Blu Nettuno w/Cuoio, a very nice combination IMO!!